Azerbaijan | 1997
while on assignment on the caspian sea, i had reached the remote village of nardalan. i was looking for a place to rest for a few hours, or perhaps a few days, to replenish myself in an atmosphere reminiscent of my childhood. the sun had just risen. the bustle of the day had not yet begun. i strolled along the deserted streets, immersed in daydreams. i encountered an old man, who looked proud but gentle, seeming both dignified and vulnerable. after exchanging a few words in azeri, he asked me, with emotion in his voice, “you’re from the south?” when i answered yes, he broke into sobs.
“i am from the south, too,” he said. “i was a year old when my parents decided to visit relatives here. but then the border was shut down, and we couldn’t leave. my childhood was marked by the grief my parents felt because they could never go back to their loved ones. they had left them for a few days that stretched into forever.”
as i listened to him, buried memories resurfaced in my mind, scenes from my childhood in tabriz. i thought i heard my mother’s melancholy song of ayriliq, which evoked the sorrow when azerbaijan was arbitrarily divided in two. my father gave me the historical explanation for the separation, which had torn families apart, stranding family members on both sides of the aras river.
this old man had grown up, and grown old, in that forced exile.
#man#portrait#blue#homme#old#vieux#rides#senior#exile#exil#photooftheday#photojournalism #reza#rezaphoto#rezadeghati#rezaphotography#documentary#travel#sagesse#wise#rezaphotojournalist #webistan#رضادقتى#عكاس@thephotosociety

World environment day - 5 june
silence, we’re killing
in 1991, i was on one of my first assignments for national geographic and, for the first time, i heard about something that seemed to be a real societal phenomenon, that is “global warming”. at the time, i had already started the photographic work which i am still pursuing today and which aims to show, through the photographic medium, the life, joys and sufferings of people victims of the decisions made by the policy-makers.
i decided to take part in a major international debate in washington, to raise the alarm on “global warming”. i told them that we had been focusing so much on environmental issues – that are, for sure, essential – that we forgot that earth is the home of our peoples. we were creating a generation devoid of commitment willingness, weary of the too many political deviancies, of the social injustice and tired of this age of quick fixes. and we were encouraging them to get involved in the environmental issues, just as if we were giving a child a rattle.
since then, these generations have nearly forgotten the real victims of our world: the hostages of our conflicts, the men and women undergoing slavery and forced labour, those who are in prison because of what they think, and those who are fighting every day for their survival.
these generations that we slowly encouraged to commit only to the climate change challenge, were trained not to think by themselves – and not to take care of the human beings living on earth. yet, if we want to make a better world for tomorrow, we have no other choice but to commit to humanity – the people and their home, earth.
in #colombia, on a coffee plantation. in a nursery, a young coffee sprout that will be humidified and planted in a clod.
#environment#worldenvironmentday#earth#hand#plant#coffeeplant#coffeeplantation#plantation#work#sprout#hope#future#generation#environmental#man#leaf#climate#red#green#photooftheday#photojournalism#reza#rezaphoto#rezadeghati#rezaphotography#rezaphotojournalist#webistan #رضادقتى# عكاس @thephotosociety

June 2016 comment 28 star 3,521

In the fields
i have a strong relation with egypt. the city of cairo has been my first reportage for national geographic magazine. at that time, photographers had the mission to spend months on a story and to bring back the best. through their photographies i went been in egypt on four different stories along the last three decades.
in the nile delta (one of my four stories), i had the chance to follow for days peasants (mens, women...and children) working hard.
i met this egyptian farmer harvesting a wheat field with a sickle.
dans les champs
j'ai une forte relation avec l'egypte. la ville du caire a été mon premier reportage pour le magazine national geographic. a cette époque, les photographes avaient pour mission de passer des mois sur une histoire et de ramener le meilleur en images. je suis allé en egypte pour quatre reportages différents au cours des trois dernières décennies.
dans le delta du nil (une de mes quatre histoires), j'ai eu la chance de suivre pendant des jours des paysans (hommes, femmes ... et enfants) qui travaillaient dur la terre.
portrait d'un paysan égyptien moissonnant un champ de blé avec une faucille.
#homme#man#instant#moment#work#travail#moisson#paysan#peasant#mouvement#movement #blé #wheat#farming#field#champs#culture#agriculture#picoftheday#photooftheday#photojournalism#reza#rezaphoto#rezadeghati#rezaphotography#rezaphotojournalist@webistan عكاس # رضادقتى @thephotosociety

Wisdom
fleeing the war, the old man had left his mountain village and his past behind. he had settled with his family not far from the border. they had stopped there, within sight of the afghan mountains, when he had raised his hand and waved the caravan to a halt. he had said he would not go any farther. he told them that they would set up camp there. nobody dared contradict him. he was the family elder, the wise man, so his relatives followed his wishes. he spent his days reading poetry. my own exile was still recent. he said to me, “your house, your country, your history are within you, if you let them enter. wherever you are, they follow you.” but then, with a sigh, he admitted, with his eyes fixed on the slopes of the afghan mountains that he would not be able to survive without seeing his land, each and every day. //
sagesse
il avait fui la guerre, laissant son village, son passé, et s'était installé avec les siens non l**n de la frontière. il avait, d'une main levée, arrêté la caravane. il avait dit qu'il n'irait pas plus loin, que le campement serait dressé en cet endroit et que sa décision était irrévocable. personne n'osa contredire l'ancien, le sage, et la vie s'organisa ainsi. il passait ses journées à lire de la poésie. mon exil était récent. il me dit :“ta maison, ton pays, ton histoire sont en toi, si tu les laisses entrer. où que tu sois, ils te suivent.”, me dit-il. puis, dans un souffle, le regard accroché au flanc de la montagne afghane, il avoua qu'il ne pourrait survivre sans voir sa terre.
#old#bed#refugee#streetphotorgaphy#exile#exil#sagesse#reading#lecture#livre#book#people#man#homme#war#guerre#photooftheday#photooftheday#photojournalism#reza#rezaphoto#rezadeghati#rezaphotography@webistan#rezaphotojournalist #رضادقتى# عكاس @thephotosociety

Wisdom
fleeing the war, the old man had left his mountain village and his past behind. he had settled with his family not far from the border. they had stopped there, within sight of the afghan mountains, when he had raised his hand and waved the caravan to a halt. he had said he would not go any farther. he told them that they would set up camp there. nobody dared contradict him. he was the family elder, the wise man, so his relatives followed his wishes. he spent his days reading poetry. my own exile was still recent. he said to me, “your house, your country, your history are within you, if you let them enter. wherever you are, they follow you.” but then, with a sigh, he admitted, with his eyes fixed on the slopes of the afghan mountains that he would not be able to survive without seeing his land, each and every day. //
sagesse
il avait fui la guerre, laissant son village, son passé, et s'était installé avec les siens non l**n de la frontière. il avait, d'une main levée, arrêté la caravane. il avait dit qu'il n'irait pas plus loin, que le campement serait dressé en cet endroit et que sa décision était irrévocable. personne n'osa contredire l'ancien, le sage, et la vie s'organisa ainsi. il passait ses journées à lire de la poésie. mon exil était récent. il me dit :“ta maison, ton pays, ton histoire sont en toi, si tu les laisses entrer. où que tu sois, ils te suivent.”, me dit-il. puis, dans un souffle, le regard accroché au flanc de la montagne afghane, il avoua qu'il ne pourrait survivre sans voir sa terre.
#old#bed#refugee#streetphotorgaphy#exile#exil#sagesse#reading#lecture#livre#book#people#man#homme#war#guerre#photooftheday#photooftheday#photojournalism#reza#rezaphoto#rezadeghati#rezaphotography@webistan#rezaphotojournalist #رضادقتى# عكاس @thephotosociety